Heresy

Heresy is the act of speaking against the doctrine of an established religious organization, or simply having private beliefs that are not in accordance with the officially-endorsed position. Heresy differs entirely from apostasy.

In early Christianity, heresy was a recurring problem as people pretending to be Christians would advocate doctrines contrary to the Bible. As heresy was seen as a great threat to the church, spurious allegations of heresy were also used by rival ecclesiarchs to attack their enemies. A series of Councils were held to establish official doctrine, in some cases leading to schisms, such as the split between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches in the eleventh century (1054).

Today, accusations of heresy are not as widespread as they once were, but some Christians may privately consider those of other denominations to be heretics.

Arguing that religions other than Christianity are pathways to salvation (Indifferentism).

Today these questions may seem unimportant and difficult to answer one way or the other, but during the early centuries of the church, countless hours were devoted to Biblical study in search of the truth, and disagreements often led to ostracism, violence and persecution. In Dante's Inferno, heresy is one of only four sins that are punished with fire (the other three being simony, wicked counsel, and violence against God).

Conservative Christian historians and apologists are mindful of this statement from the year 1521:[1]

"...there is no one of the heresies which have torn the bosom of the church, which has not derived its origin from the various interpretation of the Scripture. The Bible itself is the arsenal whence each innovator has drawn his deceptive arguments. It was with biblical texts that Pelagius and Arius maintained their doctrines. Arius, for instance, found the negation of the eternity of the Word—an eternity which you admit, in this verse of the New Testament—Joseph knew not his wife till she had brought forth her first-born son; and he said, in the same way that you say, that this passage enchained him. When the fathers of the Council of Constance condemned this proposition of John Huss—The church of Jesus Christ is only the community of the elect, they condemned an error; for the church, like a good mother, embraces within her arms all who bear the name of Christian, all who are called to enjoy the celestial beatitude."[2]

References

↑John Eck's statement here addressed to Martin Luther is supremely appropriate in light of Luther's refusal to submit to the judgment of the Church, the emperor Charles V, and the Pope, and the teaching of Paul in Romans 13:1-5.

Note to the reader: The numbered statements listed in the document are not the teaching of the Catholic Church, but are specific propositions of Martin Luther condemned by the Catholic Church. In other words, the numbered statements are presented as the actual teachings of Luther against the doctrines of the Catholic Church.

Note to the reader: In regard to the number 666 as applied to VICARIUS FILII DEI "Vicar of the Son of God" in this article, the name of the woman who started Seventh-Day Adventism, Ellen Gould White, in Latin characters, calculated by the value of Latin characters as Roman numerals, also adds up to 666: E = 0 — L = 50 — L = 50 — E = 0 — N = 0: = 100 G = 0 — O = 0 — U = 5 — L = 50 — D = 500: = 555 (Latin V is U as in JVLIVS Julius) W = 10 — H = 0 — I = 1 — T = 0 — E = 0: = 11 (Latin W double-U is VV 5+5 = 10) 100 + 555 + 11 = 666 — Ellen=100, Gould=555, White=11. Many names total 666. The identity of the Beast of Revelation cannot be established or proven with any certainty by gematria alone. Revelation 13:18 was written in Greek, not Latin, and the numerical value of the Greek letters of the transliterated Latin NRWN QSR (NiRoN QaiSaR), or Nero Caesar, also totals 666, but the Greek letter equivalent transliteration of VICARIUS FILII DEI does not (it totals 1723). This raises the question of which of the more than 200 popes was or is in fact the "man of sin", the "antichrist" and the "beast of Revelation" whose number is the number of a man (one man)—666. “This famous number [666] has been made to yield almost all the historical names of the past eighteen centuries: Titus, Vespasian, and Simon Giroas; Julian the Apostate and Genseric; Mohamet and Luther; Benedict IX and Louis XV; Napoleon I and the Duke of Reichstadt; and it would not be difficult, on the same principles to read in it one another’s names” (Vincent, Word Studies, vol.11, p.531)—Reuss "The Secret of the Number 666"And since the time of Reuss, many other names might be added such as Hitler, Mussolini, and a host of others. See commentaries on 1 John 2:18, 2 Thessalonians 2:3 and Revelation 13:18.